


Chains

by OrionRedde, Shyrstyne



Series: Cometverse [70]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe, Minor Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:28:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24619873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OrionRedde/pseuds/OrionRedde, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shyrstyne/pseuds/Shyrstyne
Summary: Everyone's made it home safe and sound from canonverse, but the effects continue to ripple outward.orHow canonverse Vanitas decides to make his problems everyone elses.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: Cometverse [70]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1285373
Comments: 14
Kudos: 16





	1. Regression

**Author's Note:**

> hey you know what's better than a vanitas redemption arc?
> 
>  _two_ vanitas redemption arcs

Vanitas wakes up.   
  
He doesn’t really register that at first. The darkness swirls around him and he just sort of lays there. His face is uncovered. The sky is too bright. He summons his mask.   
  
Xehanort is gone.   
  
He’d promised to make him whole. He’d failed.   
  
Whatever.   
  
The thought surges slowly upward, like it’s moving through molasses, bringing the slow broil of rage with it. It’s like lava, slow and ponderous, scorching everything it touches as it rises. He feels unversed coiling at the edge of his sense but he leashes them tightly. He is in control. He _is._  
  
Whatever.   
  
_Whatever._   
  
He doesn’t need Xehanort.   
  
He doesn’t need _Ventus._  
  
He doesn’t need-  
  
He scoffs. It’s the first movement he’s made. He’s still laying on the ground. The darkness swirls around him, and he sinks into it like an old friend.   
  
That’s what he is after all.   
  
Darkness.   
  
He doesn’t call it wandering. It’s reconnaissance. Gathering information. Planning his next step. ~~He doesn’t know what he’s doing.~~  
  
He sees the first world-  
  
He sees the fourth world-  
  
He sees the tenth world-  
  
He throws a vase at a wall.   
  
What is he _supposed to do_?  
  
He steps on the shards, listens to them crunch. Xehanort promised wholeness. He doesn’t need wholeness. Or Ventus. He’s darkness. What does darkness do?  
  
Something twigs on the edge of his senses.   
  
“We should play crib next time. I keep meaning to teach Van the rules but I’ve never quite gotten around to it. Could be fun, if we can get our Ienzo over here too.” There’s a group on the balcony of an old, partially renovated castle. There’s game pieces strewn about. He doesn’t recognize the speaker but the other two-  
  
“I look forward to it.” Zexy. Or something. He wasn’t that familiar with him and honestly he was far more concerned with the third figure.   
  
Because it was _himself._

He looked older, cut his hair, put metal in his face, and changed his outfit but it was still somehow undoubtedly himself.  
  
How  
  
 _How?_  
  
Sora was bad enough.   
  
They moved off, abandoning the game and going inside. He follows, barely leaving the protective coat of darkness enough to track them.   
  
“It was an unexpected pleasure to see you again. Will you be returning with them, Vanitas?” Benzion is talking again, and it takes Vanitas a moment to realize he’s talking about his soft and armourless double.   
  
“Uh. Yeah.” His Other shrugs. “The game was fun though.” The second part is added quietly, almost an afterthought. Vanitas grinds his teeth behind his helmet.   
  
“The others may have once been wary of you, it’s true. But the very nature of alternate universes is that they are indeed different! I don’t believe we have anything to fear from you.”  
  
The other him shrugs.  
  
“Not really interested in changing their minds. I got what I need.”  
  
Vanitas very nearly snarls out loud.   
  
“Very well, thank you for helping me test my hypothesis, by the way, since your De- Myde was reluctant to let my other self do so.” He nods cordially to them both, and then starts up some machine that creates what looks to him like a swirling portal of stardust.   
  
“It’s not like I can say no to his puppy eyes.” Comet laughs. “Thanks for making this much more pleasant this time. See ya.” Comet steps through it, followed by the ~~atrocit~~ the other him, who manages a small, tentative wave at the other man as he does.   
  
Vanitas crouches,   
  
gathers the darkness,   
  
and springs before the portal can close.   
  
He doesn’t stay still after emerging on the other side, immediately sinking into the darkness and teleporting away. Where he goes doesn’t matter at first, so long as he’s not noticed. He finds a good distance and then follows the stranger and the idiot himself.   
  
They board a gummi ship, and he spends a cramped, ugly trip in some disused storage compartment, half in the shadows just to alleviate the boredom of it. He listens to them, quiet for the most part, but sometimes heckling, or prodding at each other. He hears himself laugh, and almost doesn’t recognize the sound for what it is when it's not bitter and taunting.   
  
At least it doesn’t sound like Sora.  
  
Patience be damned, he would have jumped out and attacked them then and there if he’d sounded like Sora.   
  
They land.   
  
He counts to ten. He teleports.   
  
He’s Vanitas, he tells himself. He is patient, driven, and one with the darkness. This half rate coward was not him and he was going to prove it.   
  
Because _Vanitas-_   
  
Does not have connections.   
  
He doesn’t need anyone.   
  
_No one._   
  
He waits.   
  
He watches himself leave, a stupid bandana tied around his hair as though it will hide his eyes the idiot and leaves the lady alone, doing whatever they do before the store opens.   
  
He keeps watching. What was so great anyway. Being taken care of like some child? It was demeaning, and beneath them both. How dare this broad bring any version of him down to this level. He was dependent on no one. _No one._  
  
He has an idea. 

-

You’re prepping for opening the bar again, a bit late but you’ve only just gotten home, when you hear the bell at the door ring. You look up, half expecting Lea or perhaps Isa coming in to greet you home (except it can’t be, Lea’s doing a three day trip with Roxas and Xion this week and Isa is out until at least this evening) and instead you see Vanitas- or at least you’re pretty sure. He has his hood up for some reason.   
  
“Back already?” You ask. You don’t recognize that hoodie, maybe he went shopping? He seems strangely small in it, but you assume it’s just because it’s obviously much too big. His hood is up but it just makes the tufts poking out the front all the more accentuated- he must need a haircut soon, you mentally note. You could have sworn he was wearing his piercings when he left this morning too, but you guess you must just be misremembering. He just shrugs, moving across the room and picking up a chair.   
  
“Thought I’d help.” He seems a little off. Awkward, and he won’t look you in the eye. For a moment you’re reminded back when you first started letting him stay around the bar, skittish and wary, and it hangs heavy in your heart, but he’s offering to help, so you figure whatever’s bothering him will come out in due time.   
  
Maybe it was something that happened with Ienzo today? You know the other universe hadn’t been kind to him, and you’d been fully prepared to go alone, but he had insisted on going with you. Maybe he’d pushed himself too hard though. You muse on this as you dust some of the harder to reach corners. You stand, speaking as you do,   
  
“Hey Van, you wanna get-“   
  
You don’t have time to finish.   
  


-  
  
The bar is closed. 

Vanitas stands across the street from it, a bag of fruit in one hand, and the other in the middle of adjusting his bandana. He’s stopped mid motion, something about the situation rocking him into stillness (the couple walking behind him give him a dirty look as they pass. He doesn’t give a damn).  
  
It’s not that late yet, so the regulars haven’t started stopping by, but Vanitas knows Comet wanted to have the bar open at least part of today. It should have been open by now. There’s no movement inside, where are they?   
  
It could be nothing, but Vanitas hasn’t survived this long being stupid and not listening to his instincts. He calls on old powers, and teleports. The fruit spills out onto the roadwork.   
  
He sees Comet inside now, sprawled on the floor, clearly moved to the open area in the center. He sees no one else, but he feels it.   
  
He steps out.   
  
“What do you want?”   
  
He wasn’t necessarily expecting a copy of himself to rise out of the floor across from Comet’s body, but he won’t let himself react. His eyes narrow.   
  
“Me? Nothing.”   
  
“Bullshit.” Is his immediate retort.   
  
The other chuckles deeply. “I would say you would know, but now I’m not so sure. After all, what version of me could possibly be caught dead in a place like this, being mommied around by some ugly bint?”   
  
Vanitas is so angry he nearly chokes.   
  
“You should try it. Maybe you’d like it.” Is what he says instead. His fists tremble.   
  
A Keyblade flashes into existence.   
  
“Nah. I’m good. But here, I’ll fix it for you.” And then the other him raises his keyblade, pointed downward, and Vanitas remembers it, remembers looking down at blue hair and bruised eyes and _knows_   
  
He flashes forward, and their Keyblades clash. He is bitterly aware he is in the exact same position he once put Ventus in, but he doesn’t have time to really turn that thought over, because then they’re fighting.   
  
He has the home field advantage, and a better lifestyle bouying his strength, but inside this small space isn’t worth much. The room is too small and littered with debris, he’s out of practice with many of the powers the other him is using gratuitously, and he just wasn’t prepared for this kind of fight. His clothing is already in ruins.   
  
He’s smarter though. Where he’s lost some technical prowess, he has learned better timing, at both Comet and Lea’s instruction while sparring. The other him fights like he used to, constant teleporting to confuse, and following with the strongest strike he can.   
  
It’s not bad tactics, but he can do better now.   
  
All in all, it leaves the battlefield about even.   
  
Except for the part where, after he gets a good hit in, the other him stumbles, teleports, and picks Comet up by the neck.   
  
“The hard way huh? We don’t need her! We don’t need anyone! Why do you _care?!”_   
  
Vanitas grinds his teeth.   
  
“Fuck you.” He doesn’t have the words to articulate why the other him should, for just how desperately and desolately broken he knows he is.   
  
And then the other him jerks, lightning running up his body and leaving him twitching and convulsing. Comet has one eye open, glaring up at him with a hand on his arm, crackling with electricity.   
  
Vanitas takes the advantage and his Keyblade, and strikes as hard as he possibly can.   
  
The Other Vanitas, still twitching slightly, looks down at the blade, and then up at him. He grins. It’s not kind.   
  
“You don’t deserve this.” He sneers, and then dissolves into the darkness.   
  
Vanitas takes one second to snort at the last wisps as they fade. He always did have to have the last word. And then he leans down to check on Comet, who is wincing and rubbing the back of their neck.   
  
“Are- are you okay.” Old reservations flare to life, he wants to touch, to be sure, but he just attacked them. He doesn’t know how they’ll react, if they ’ll even want him around anymo-   
  
He stops thinking about it.   
  
Comet winces. “I think he knocked me out and then hit me with a hell of a sleep spell to keep me down. Glad it wore off when it did. Forget me though, are you okay?” They ask, and as soon as they’re in a decent enough sitting position they’re looking him over. He’s a little bruised and his lip is split, but it was a short battle. A potion for each of them and they’ll both be fine.   
  
They don’t talk about it.   
  
He doesn’t even know where to start.   
  
They come to rest on one of the undamaged booths. Or Comet does. He stands, fists clenched at his sides, not sure what he even wants to say.   
  
“You do deserve this.” Comet says eventually, looking hard at his face. When he doesn’t answer they huff a slight sigh and hold out their arms, offering comfort. “You deserve having a home, and a family. Maybe it took a while for you to see it, and I’m damned sad he's never known one, but you’re here, and you deserve it because I love you.”   
  
He doesn’t move at first, but the arms don’t lower. There is a war of expressions on his face, and he’s going to have to deal with this literal confrontation with himself emotionally later, but right now..   
  
Right now he decides he really wants that hug.   
  



	2. Rematch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> exactly what it sounds like... or the aftermath of it at least

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is an old one, written back before i had any real concept of how tf to write an action scene... so i wrote around it. it's short, it's sweet, and honestly it only exists because of the one (1) plot point in it, and it's not even a major one lol
> 
> also warning for mild-moderate description of injury in this one

You roll over, noting the empty space next to you and a buzzing to your left.

It’s the alarm, and it’s insistent. You groan and throw a pillow over your head. You hear Lea call out from the attached bathroom, far too cheerily knowing he values sleep as much if not more than you do.

“Rise and shine, chicken feathers.” You lift your head, hair in disarray and probably indeed looking somewhat like a half plucked chicken, and poke your tongue out at him. Despite your strongest urges, you manage to roll out of bed and into the bathroom. Stars but you miss Isa, but he’s doing an overnight trip with Roxas and Xion. At least he would be grumpy  _ with _ you when Lea’s got his aggressively cheery face on. Lea’s doing his eyeliner, or you would have physically shoved him out of the way of the mirror.

“Good Morning.” He says. You do an exaggerated neanderthal grunt. He finishes his wing with a flourish and looks down at you.

“Too early for words, huh? No politeness at all, I tell you.” He’s grinning as he says it, clearly being a tease. You’re not quite awake enough yet for that, but you manage a half smile in return, opening the cabinet drawer with your toothbrush with one hand and flipping open your gummi phone with the other.

“Think we’ll have time to do our nails before we head out?” He asks, moving to the other eye. Four instagram notifications and a missed call from Vanitas marked an hour ago. There’s no voice mail, but there is a text from roughly forty minutes later.

**‘Pick me up. Forgot potions. Near badlands.’**

Well you’re awake now.

“Oh for stars sake,” you hiss quietly at yourself, and Lea looks up, curious. You brandish the message, a scowl on your face. He sighs, dropping the bottle of polish he’d just picked up.

“You go grab some potions. I’ll call Aqua and tell her we’re going to be late.”

-

You are livid.

You’re not sure at who.

It’s probably going to depend on exactly what circumstances led to this and exactly what condition Vanitas is in when you pick him up. You scan out the window of the gummi ship; you know he’s nearby but the badlands are just big enough and full of enough craigs and valleys it could be easy to miss someone if they were in the wrong spot. It turns out you needn’t have worried. There’s an entirely new set of craters due east and in the center of the biggest one is unmistakably Vanitas.

Who is just lying down. In the middle of one particularly large crater.

That brat bastard had better be alive or so help you, you were going to kill him yourself.  _ And  _ whoever did this to him.

You throw yourself from the ship, skidding down the gravelly sides of the crater, and immediately you have your hands on his neck, checking for a pulse. Turns out you needn’t have gotten so carried away, as he twitches away, reaching up one arm to swat at your hand.

“Ngh, stop that.” He says. His lip is badly split and it’s gotten blood on his teeth. You  _ hope _ it’s from his lip.

“What the fuck, Vanitas.” Lea demands as he comes up, potions in hand. Van’s eye blinks open; the other is swollen shut.

“In my defence, I didn’t plan this.” You sure hope so; he’s in his nicest jacket and jeans, both of which are thoroughly ruined now. His right arm is bent at an odd angle, and something in his leg is slowly seeping blood. Lea pop’s the cork on the bottle, and Vanitas levers himself up to drink it with Lea’s help. You press a hand to the gash on his leg to help it close more smoothly. It doesn’t quite close all the way, which means he was nearing the end of the window for healing magic to be effective.

He’s less bruised now at least, but the arm is going to need more serious work. Neither you nor Lea are healers though. It might have to wait until you can get him home and fix it the old fashioned way.

“So what  _ did _ happen?” You ask. You hope your voice is level. You’re not sure what would come out if it wasn’t.

“Had to fight a guy. No big.”   
  
“Vanitas-” Your voice is hard.

“Look I had to, okay? It’s fine, both of us went all out and I won.” He snaps, and then mutters under his breath, “See who deserves what now, asshole.”

Your eyes narrow.

“So you left without telling us, without bringing backup? I know he’s you, but that doesn’t mean you couldn’t have lost.” You move to grab his good arm to anchor him and help him up, but Lea waves you off and just picks him up entirely, moving with ease despite Vanitas' nearly grown size. Vanitas isn’t fond of being picked up even at the best of times, and scowls.

“So what was all the training for then? I have to be better than him, and now I’ve proven I am! He can’t hurt you if I’m better-”

“Vanitas.” You cut him off. He goes silent, looking away.

“The spars were because I thought it was helping you work out some of these issues. Not so you could get revenge on yourself and put marks on some kind of scorecard.”

“It did help.”

“Really. So all these new holes in this wasteland, trying a new type of decorating?” Lea’s comment is as dry as it gets.

“I needed to prove I was better. So he can’t come after us again, so I deserve-” He cuts himself off, and then buries his face into Lea’s collar, quiet. You glance up at Lea, whose expression is every bit as pained as your own has to be.

You breathe out. Back in. Don’t yell. Don’t cry.

“It’s not about deserving, and it never was Vanitas. I took you in because you needed a place. I let you stay because I care about you.”  _ ‘I’m sorry if I made you feel like you didn’t deserve the things I gave you freely’ _ , you think but don’t say. Guilt won’t help right now. Your heart hurts.

“Look, kid,” Lea says, shifting the kid on his shoulder just enough to prompt Vanitas into looking up at him, “Life can be messy, and complicated, and stars know ours more than most, but.. Sometimes it’s just life. It’s not about who deserves what, or earning what you’re given. Especially where friends and,” he looks up at you, “well, family are concerned.”

“I guess what we’re trying to say is you scared us, scared  _ me _ . Maybe this is something you felt you had to do, but we don’t want to see you hurt, and right now I don’t see how this needed to happen.”

“At least next time bring backup.” Lea grumbles.

“It sorta all happened at once.” Vanitas mumbles. “And I did try to call.”

Oh shit that was right, you remember the missed call. “You did, and I appreciate that you tried, really. I’m sorry we missed it.” And you’re definitely going to be poking him to talk to his therapist about this later too. Poor woman. You can’t imagine she deals with many other people with the same sorts of problems your family does.

Vanitas makes a soft noise of acknowledgement, head resting on Lea’s collar, clearly starting to fall asleep. It’s cute for a couple of seconds before Lea deliberately shifts him and snaps his fingers in front of his face.

“Hey now no sleeping, potions don’t cure concussions. And if I don’t get to sleep neither do you.” He says, serious despite the slight tease in his tone.

Vanitas pokes his tongue out, and if that wasn’t indication that he was almost certainly concussed, you’re not sure what is.

You pull out your phone.

“I’ll let Aqua know we’re probably not going to make it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the plot point is that van broke his arm and i didn't feel like editing out mentions of it for the next three-ish chapters lol

**Author's Note:**

> obviously this plays fast and loose with canon. we did not have the information we do now when we first wrote this arc. ultimately that is irrelevant. our canon now i guess XD
> 
> anyway i also just really wanted to play with Explicitly Broken Vanitas again. because reasons. cometverse vanitas was a slightly softer sort of broken then canonverse and it's a fun sort of difference


End file.
